Last movie watched...

[Sideshow Bob]

Hammer Horror films were my first real introduction into 'horror' at the movies......
At that time most of the 'good' ones were 18 certificate and at only about 16 years old, I was fortunate enough to be ( shaving every day ) able to pass as 18 quite easily....
Saw loads of these around then  in the Allanpark Cinema in Stirling.......Now a Bingo Hall.....

Great memories of watching Dracula Prince of Darkness, Frankenstein ( Peter Cushing & Christopher Lee ), Dracula has Risen from the Grave etc.....and as and added bonus in those days you always got 2 films with a support movie ( sometimes awful but sometimes quite good ) before the main feature..

Now I feel really old.....

[Hawkmumbler]

Double bill of Dracula Prince of Darkness and Plague of the Zombies is a classic outing. Rasputin the Mad Monk and The Reptile take's the jammy dodger though!

[Sideshow Bob]

Yes, remember seeing The Reptile in a double bill as well.....Although can't remember what it was on with...It may very well have been Rasputin or Plague of the Zombies as I've also seen that...

Thought it was amazing ( for its' time ) but looking back,  I suppose it wasn't really very good and the make up for the Reptile,  obviously a mask.....but at the time looked quite good....
Story and effects don't really stand the test of time very well.....A lot like most of the Hammer movies..... very much of 'their time'...
Jacqueline Pearce played The Reptile, ( if I remember correctly ) and one of the 'facts' at the time was that the costume she wore was supposedly made from real snakeskin.....
I do remember the village being very similar in all the Hammer movies of the time...Evidently they all used the 'village set' already made up in Bray Studios....

A misspent childhood,  I suppose,  but movies like that lead me into reading comics / horror movies and ultimately original art collecting.....
Cheers

[Dark Jimbo]

I'm a nut for the Hammers. Had seen a few on late night BBC2 at Uni around 2003/4, but it was the Cabballistics INC story Creepshow not long after that prompted me to seek 'em out more proactively (thanks Tharg!) Got quite a decent DVD collection now.

After years of pestering, I finally got my younger brother to sit down and watch one with me last Sunday. I picked Captain Kronos: Vampire Hunter. A good choice, I think - he utterly loved it, laughed in all the right places* (rather than the wrong places), showed due appreciation for Caroline Munro's 'charms', and admitted at the end it was overall far better than he'd been expecting. The next day at work he was using the character's names when he needed to input fake data to test a new work system, and asked if 'Hammer night' could become a regular thing. I'm thinking Twins of Evil next...



*Favourite line - When Caroline asks to stay with Kronos 'If you'll have me...'
Kronos (smirking) 'Oh, I'll have you...'
Needless to say, he does.

[Goaty]

T2, still awesome everytime...

[JamesC]

T2 is ace - recorded ready for a re-watch tomorrow.

On the Hammer (or maybe Amicus/tigon) theme. I always liked Countess Dracula ( where is my daughter? - how should I know? Try the whore house! ). But 'Twins of Evil' is a good choice - some classic Price moments in that.

[Ancient Otter]

Cutter's Way, in which PTSD suffering war veteran John Heard smells a way to extort some cash from a local businessman when Heard's mate Jeff Bridges figures the businessman might be the person who murdered a high school cheerleader.  The plan does not unfold as hoped.
It's a pretty squalid crime drama that seeks out new ground amongst some familiar noir tropes and Heard is great as the angry, one-armed, one-eyed, barely two-legged racist drunkard with a violent streak, while Bridges seems a bit of a vapor, but then he would considering how the deck is stacked in favor of Heard when it comes to quirks.  The pace is slow overall, but the resolution is clever.
A neat find, this, as I'd never even heard of it before.  Worth a watch if you come across it.

I heard this film mentioned years ago in the Uncut spinoff magazine, Uncut DVD. Been meaning to watch it and read the novel it's based on, they raved about them both.

[Daveycandlish]

I'm a nut for the Hammers.

After years of pestering, I finally got my younger brother to sit down and watch one with me last Sunday. I picked Captain Kronos: Vampire Hunter. A good choice, I think ... I'm thinking Twins of Evil next...

Yeah Kronos is a corker, pity they never made sequels. Twins is a good one too.
The 70s films tend to get derided by fans but I think they have their moments, one of my personal favourites being Legend of the 7 Golden Vampires. Peter Cushing fighting hopping Chinese vampires? Of course it's brilliant! And it has Julie Ege in it. (The guy playing Dracula is the only low point - far too hammy, even for a Hammer film!)

[Hawkmumbler]

Hands of the Ripper is IMHO the most under rated Hammer outing. Awesome set pieces and some star tellingly grizzly deaths. Quatermass and the Pit is my favourite though. Outstanding.

[PsychoGoatee]

Curse of Frankenstein is my favorite Hammer flick I think, Cushing is too damn good.

[Greg M.]

For me, Hammer's crowning glory remains 'The Devil Rides Out'. Casting Christopher Lee against type works wonderfully, Charles Gray improves upon the novel's Mocata (who was basically a Crowley knock-off) and Paul Eddington is about as perfect a bit of casting as you could get for Richard Eaton. The film has moments which are hairs-up-on-the-back-of-your-neck terrifying, largely because of how well the cast sell it (Lee particularly) and how seriously they take it. The 'inside the circle' scene has to be one of the all-time greats - though it's even scarier in the book.

[Sideshow Bob]

Having read a great deal since I was very young.....Novels comics...basically anything I could get my hands on...especially if it was connected to horror, it was inevitable that I would end up reading Dennis Wheatleys' The Devil Rides Out and of course going to the Cinema to see it.....

Probably due to my age, and the material around at the time, I honestly thought that this was one of the creepiest movies I had seen.......and agree totally with Greg M...This is Hammers' Crowning Glory !!

Christopher Lee ( playing against type ) was utterly brilliant, as the Duc de Richleau who confronts Charles Grays' evil Mocata ( the Satanist).. Paul Eddington ( Margos' husband in The Good life ), was perfect and after watching him,  you couldn't imagine anyone else in that role......Patrick Mower is also superb,  as the easily led young man 'in danger'......Almost perfect casting all round !!..
And the screenplay was written by Richard Matheson ( I am Legend etc )....

There are several creepy moments...."Don't look in his eyes"  being a beauty, " It's The Goat of Mendes" scene,   and the climax of the movie ( in the pentagram ) is about the creepiest Hammer movie climax you are likely to come across.......

Ok, it may come across as particularly 'dated' now,  but when this came out in 1968 it was just about perfect.......No gore, just a good creepy story, a great soundtrack and some excellent acting all round....
If you are a 'fan' of Hammer Horror movies and haven't watched this, you are seriously missing out !!...Catch it as soon as you can...'Of its' time' but Very Highly Recommended...

And if that wasn't enough to persuade you to watch it how about this.....
Christopher Lee once said about The Devil Rides Out..... " It's one of my favourites,  and it's the one that I wish would be remade using modern effects,  and with myself playing a more mature Duc de Richleau "

Cheers

[Spikes]

The 70s films tend to get derided by fans but I think they have their moments, one of my personal favourites being Legend of the 7 Golden Vampires. Peter Cushing fighting hopping Chinese vampires? Of course it's brilliant! And it has Julie Ege in it. (The guy playing Dracula is the only low point - far too hammy, even for a Hammer film!)

Agreed. Hammer's output throughout the decades produced many, many gems. But i do have a soft spot for the 70's films.
And often films i thought was by Hammer turned out to be either by Tigon, or Amicus. Those studio's output often outshone Hammers offering in that late period. But its all good, really.

[Definitely Not Mister Pops]

Watched an unlikely double bill on ITV4 last night. Mortal Kombat:Annihilation followed by Kubrick's classic Full Metal Jacket

Mortal Kombat:Annihilation has some of the worst dialogue ever. I've seen a couple of Mortal Kombat adaptations, there was a live action series at one point, and they all seem to forget that no one really cares about the game's backstory and that Sub-Zero and Scorpio are the coolest. Having said that, Raiden was always my personal favourite, and James Remar's portrayal is awful wooden shite. I could never get into Dexter because he was in it. He's terrible in everything, but I'm more forgiving if it's b-movie schlock like this or Van Damme's The Quest. This should have redeemed itself with the fight scenes, but they are badly choreographed awkward silliness that reminds us Hollywood didn't really get kung-fu right until The Matrix. They still make fight scenes this bad though, but at least they disguise it with shaky cams and multiple quick cuts.

I think this was only in the schedule to highlight how well made Full Metal Jacket is. Everything that needs to be said about this probably already has been said, but one interesting debate was sparked with this viewing:

Who is the best psychotic sweary bastard? Malcolm Tucker or Lee Ermey's drill instructor?

I went for Lee Ermey. I first saw this when I was 14, and I thought I knew how to swear, but this guy blew me away. Anyone who knows anything about this show knows that Lee Ermey was originally brought in just as a consultant. But after demonstrating that he could shout horrific abuse at the top of his lungs for 15 minutes straight, coming out with lines ten times better than anything the writers could come up with, he was given the job.

[willthemightyW]

After a recent re-watching of Cobra (still has one of the coolest openings) I decided to watch The Expendables, fully expecting to hate it, and I mean really hate it! I surprised myself by enjoying it quite a bit, sure it's silly and over the top, but it doesn't try to be anything it's not. I'm almost (but not quite) excited to watch the second one on netflix.

And then, in complete contrast... Brazil! What is there I can say about Brazil? Brilliant film.